Understudies and Elephants

In today’s episode you’ll hear stories that span the years between childhood and adulthood. We’ll start with a Paul Lawrende Dunbar poem, written in the dialectical verse for which he was famous. The poem is called “The Spelling Bee,” a tale filled with good-natured competition, hard words to spell, and even young love. It’s performed for us by Mitch Capel. You’ll also hear a story of Sam’s – a memory of playing Emile de Becque in a high school production of Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. The episode wraps up with a rollicking story about a trip to Africa, by the great storyteller and mime Antonio Rocha.